LED Street lighting coming to Providence?

A while back Matt wrote a post about LED street lighting, cities such as New York; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Anchorage, Alaska have plans to implement LED street lighting. In the conversation I suggested that Providence work on a pilot LED street lighting program in the new street grid built in the vacated Route 195 land. Seems the city actually wants to move a little faster than that.

LEDalux, a company based here in Providence recently contacted the city. Seems they had a number of cities contacting them to start LED street lighting programs and they were wondering why Providence wasn’t one of those cities. So Providence said, “we’d love to be one of those cities, what do we have to do?” The city is now working with LEDalux on an LED product which can be retrofitted into existing decorative street lighting in the city. If the planets (i.e. funding) align, we could see LED street lights rolled out this year, perhaps as part of the Westminster streetscape improvements on the West Side. Westminster would likely be one of as many as three streets that would be part of the pilot LED program.

The city is also working with the General Assembly to create a billing plan with the utilities for LED lighting. Current lighting fees are based on energy use and labor of incandescent lights, which use more energy and need to be replaced more often than LEDs. Some city lighting is metered, such lighting will likely be at the front of the line for replacement with LEDs and the metering will translate the energy savings directly.

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About the Author

Jef Nickerson

Jef is Greater City Providence's co-founder, editor, and publisher. He grew up on Cape Cod and lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; and New York before settling in Providence. In addition to urbanism, Jef is interested in art, design, and ice cream. Please feel free to contact Jef if you have any question or comments about Greater City Providence.

Comments

I’m a little disappointed with the fact that existing streets with foot traffic and open businesses at night (i.e. Broadway) are getting no attention in terms of streetscape and lighting, whereas the mile-long desert of Westminster between Hoyle Square and the Armory is getting this fabulous renovation. But I do like the idea of LED street lighting in general, and I’m glad Providence is pursuing it.

I think they may be banking on development along the street after it’s reconnected to downtown, but that project seems so distant that it makes little sense to be fussing over it yet while neglecting streets where there’s already a renaissance happening.

I am a street light collector- “weird”- eh? Here’s the thing: The current high pressure sodium (orange glow when lit) and metal halide (warm white when lit) are far more efficiant in brightness and lumen maintenance. For current fixtures, you just have to change one bulb. AND, the bulb is INSIDE the light. It isn’t the clear round part calld the lens. So this being said concludes that bulbs for the existing lights are cheaper than LED pads. If a few LED’s go out on the pad, you have to replace the WHOLE pad, whichcan be costly. Greg, those lights on the new 195 are full cut-off, meaning they reduce glare and put light on the ground, where it is needed. They are still the same lights, just with flat glass lenses. (HERE: –>) https://secure.ge-lightingsystems.com/gels01/r2/productcentral/data/roadway/catalog/r18_mscl_2008.pdf